1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electrical devices, and more particularly, to connectors for connecting multiple circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
Following manufacture, integrated circuits are typically powered up and run for a test period prior to shipping to customers in order to weed out those devices which fail prematurely. This process is called burn-in and is typically performed at elevated temperatures to help accelerate these early failures, or "infant mortalities." The burn-in system typically consists of a burn-in tester which provides the electrical test signals to the packaged integrated circuit, referred to as the device under test ("DUT"), and an oven which provides the temperature acceleration. The DUT is loaded into a load board and placed in the oven. The load board is constructed using conventional printed circuit board techniques and materials. Electrical test signals are routed from the burn-in tester through the load board to the appropriate terminals or pins of the DUT package.
Conventionally, there is a wide variety of types of integrated circuit packages and number of pins on each package. In addition, for a given package type and pin count there is an infinite number of products which can be housed inside it. This means the routing of the electrical test signals to the pins of the package presents an extremely large number of combinations. Historically, a separate load board has been made for each product, wherein the traces on the load board which carry the electrical test signals are routed to the specific pins, or leads, of the product. This is a "hard wired" design which does not allow for changes in the routing of the electrical test signals. Additionally, if the product pinout changes, a new load board must be manufactured to be able to burn it in. Likewise, a new load board needs to be manufactured for every new product.
Load boards are expensive and their wiring to the burn-in tester is labor intensive and time-consuming. Part of the expense is due to a robustness requirement, whereby the load boards need to be able to operate at elevated temperatures (up to 350.degree. C. or more), provide little if any signal degradation and remain reliable for one to two years of continuous operation at elevated temperatures. It therefore becomes important to minimize the need to replace load boards, to thereby reduce the production costs of integrated circuits. One way to minimize the need to replace load boards is to make them more versatile in their applicability.